When I moved job I knew that one of the biggest changes was a commute to work. In fairness up to this week it has worked very well, I take and collect my daughter to and from school and on the remainder of my drive, catch up on my podcasts, its pretty relaxing. However, I live in a rural location and with the ferry out there is currently only one way in and out so if there are any problems you are affected. On Tuesday, there sadly was a fatal accident on my route, and the diversion through a forest was so slow due to the very difficult right turn onto a very busy A road. My average commute is around 40 minutes, on Tuesday it was more than 2 hours. As I’ve got older I have become more relaxed about the things you can control and those you can’t, and traffic is not something I have any control of, so after phoning school it was simply about waiting it out. I had my daughter for company, we may have broken into our packed lunches and just chatted and waited.

This was a week of late nights and lots of driving, some weeks just end up like that, My daughter has started a new club and the timings make it futile to try and get home and come back again. Its much easier to go to the venue straight from school and use their café for a quick tea. Whilst she was at the club, I enjoyed a drink and my book and finally got in around 8pm. Saturdays are normally a local day but it was my son’s school Christmas Fayre on Saturday morning so again another journey, a 45 minute drive. I really can’t complain for this one day, as he does the trip daily.

The Christmas fayre was so busy, it needed a little more room to make it more comfortable for everyone. There were some nice gifts for sale and we picked up a log reindeer and felt decorations. I won some kinetic sand, perfect for my class. Whilst I like the town the school is situated in and would normally have a little wander, I wanted to get back to our home town for the Christmas market which is a highlight of the season. It seems everyone is there and it is such a lovely social occasion, again it was incredibly busy despite the icy cold conditions but I do love to potter and chat, listen to the live music and enjoy the street food (Biscoff pancakes, what a treat)

Along with attending the town’s Christmas market, this is always the weekend we put up the Christmas tree and decorations. All was going well until I could not find my box of the main tree decorations. I have since remembered that I wanted to protect them and rather than put them in the garage with all the others, I decided to put them in the attic for ‘safe keeping’. I haven’t had time to retrieve them yet but look forward to finishing our tree soon. It does look a bit bare simply having the main tree decorated with its lights. Tommy the elf has been back this week, I did suggest his retirement but I think the children have twigged that he often leaves little extras and he was asked to return. I am keeping things simple this year, none of the elaborate hiding places and handwritten letters from previous years, just popping up over the house.

Christmas planning and events continue next week, its definitely beginning to feel a lot like Christmas..